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33 thoughts on “Who Is The Independent Thinker”

Great piece! You have clearly done a thorough investigative project. I do wanted to love Hillary, but alas, she is corrupt and villainous, duplicitous, and traitorous. And then Arizona last night!!! No, we are not in some Banana Republic, just in corporate America. Thanks for your intelligent passion. Will forward.

Even though I’m a Bernie supporter I find it disingenuous that your “2016” blog doesn’t even have a proper “about” page. Until I know who you are, there’s no way I’m sharing your posts – no matter how well-written or how much I agree with them. I loathe being manipulated and this just reeks of political falsity and sleaze.

I so enjoyed your article, What Bernie Sanders Gave America Today. It perfectly explained my personal thoughts on why he endorsed HRC and gave me hope that the Revolution will be positively impacted by his decision. One problem I had was that I could not find a link to post it on facebook. Maybe it is just my limited skills.

Great plan. With some minor and important tweaks, it can become a profoundly louder statement.

Please consider these changes:

1.

Instead of everyone de-registering one state at a time, what if we make a YUUGE online event inviting everyone to switch to independent online, then back to Democrat the next day, then back to whatever each of us were registered as. To send the party a message: we are not beholden.

If we leverage it well, we can show the party we can easily switch from blue to Green to whatever we want. Even make an app to remind us and to automatically pop up the registration web page for us, so all of us can do it in coordination. The party heads will see massive amounts of people de-register all at once, then re-register all at once the next day, then do whatever each of us chooses the next day.

2.

Instead of Bernie or Bust, we do something else.

The party machine will never take seriously the threat of people writing in Bernie. That’s because it’s difficult enough to get people to vote. And to get the message out. In order to have enough of an impact, we’d need to phonebank, canvass, and have fundraising. At the very least. But people don’t knock doors asking voters to write in a candidate who’s not even running for president.

So instead, why don’t we do Bernie or BEST. (All the candidates of the political revolution and a Plan B for president who supporters can switch to)

The DNC will then see that we have someone who Bernie supporters can instantly switch to, and that still plan on electing more than 150 Bernie candidates.

We could go for Jill Stein, who as a woman who might draw even more votes away from Hillary, or we can go for anyone we wish, and get enough voters to get our candidate into the general election debates.

Such a candidate can bring draw the support of Never Trump voters if Trump is nominated, or Trump supporters if Trump isn’t nominated. And if someone were to run independent against the Republican nominee, then our own candidate gets even more of a chance to win in the 4-way race.

Dear independentista thinker: It took a lot of courage for Bernie Sanders to support Hillary Clinton today. He did because it is not about himself. Why not Jill? Because it is not about Jill either. It was a political move necessary to continue rallying all the forces necessary to continue working on the issues. It is crucial for everyone to concentrate all the efforts on the issues, not in the personalities, otherwise we, independent thinkers all loose.

I would like some verification on the facts about Clinton in your article. For example, some reliable sources— some of your accusations sound too much like the Hilary Haters. She isn’t the ideal candidate but a great deal better than Trump or Cruz. I also think a lot of Sanders’ ideas will be used.
I just think it is wrong just to throw out accusations without any solid evidence.

I would encourage readers to be less concerned about the details of who you, the author are and more about the content of what you write. People must learn to think for themselves and be judicious and persistent about what they focus their attention on and determine the truth or falsity about what they read themselves. While I may be heading down a slightly different path than the author his points are searingly coherent and in my view loaded with sincerity and truth. I deeply thank him for his honesty and clarity…as his writing has helped to clarify my own thinking. What more could one ask of a writer?!

The Demise of Democracy in America
It started in 1981 with Ronald Reagan’s Trickle Down economic theory which said in essence if you put money in the hands of the wealthy, they will spend it into the rest of the economy. It wasn’t true but allowed government to begin to starve America’s economic engine, the middle class. Reductions in taxes on the wealthy would begin to grow obscene federal deficits and set the stage for a push for reductions in entitlement program like Social Security and Medicare. Americans were locked in the late stage of their consumption binge and not too concerned about wage stagnation or deficits. The Bush and Clinton dynasties followed and American’s assumed that they were democracy fans. That assumption would lead to the moral bankruptcy of the United States of America.

In 1992, independent presidential candidate, Ross Perot, suggested that the North America Free Trade Agreement would create a “Giant sucking sound” as good high paying American jobs left America for lower waged unregulated markets. Women had entered the labor force and two income families were able to help weather to job losses. Our leaders wouldn’t agree to something that hurt Americans, right?

Then the free marketers began to pitch the deregulation of the banks suggesting that bank management would surely self-police bank risk management. Bill Clinton made a strong free market case and we trusted our president. Unfortunately, we didn’t understand that CEO salaries had become so obscene that corporate longevity wasn’t as important as it used to be and besides the big banks were too big to fail.

At the same time the war on drugs was in full swing and crime rates were rising. Leaders pushed the privatization of prisons as a solution. The private sector builds them and the government fills them. What could go wrong? A win-win for everyone? We believed, again.

The “W” years marked a full blown housing bubble. Americans used their home equity as an ATM to offset a stagnant job market and stagnant wages. Unregulated banks tapped into the bubble with mirror mortgages: if you could fog a mirror you would qualify for a mortgage. Real estate appraisers and credit rating agencies jumped on the home mortgage bubble as banks packaged and sold their worthless mirror mortgages around the world. It seemed crazy but surely our government was looking out for us and wouldn’t feed obscene greed that would put the world economy at risk.
Citizen United actually began to shine a spotlight on what America had become. Our nation was a democracy no longer. In its place was a morally bankrupt nation of the wealthy, by the wealthy and for the wealthy. America had become a plutocracy.

Partisan politics were used as an excuse for a scenario where the wealthy always won and the middle class always lost. Both political parties equally pimped for their wealthy donors. What had been a political landscape of left vs. right had morphed into a political landscape of top vs. bottom. That’s why so many Americans see Bernie Sanders as the only viable presidential candidate. It’s time to take our democracy back.

In Augus t2014, Nick Hanauer, billionaire entrepreneur, penned a memo to his fellow “zillionaires” which said, “The pitchforks are coming…for us plutocrats.” What Hanauer foretold was an American uprising or revolution that would serve to level the American economic and perhaps political playing field. Clearly, Hanauer understood that “zillionaire” greed had over reached and that they would be best served by a cost effective strategy that would create good will and take pitchforks off the table.

Bernie Sanders proved to be the embodiment of Hanauer’s prophecy. His approach to America’s problems was simple. If it’s broken fix it. Close tax loop holes, off shore loop holes and trickle down subsidies. Bring American healthcare up to developed word standards. Don’t punish kids for a higher education. Renegotiate un-American trade deals. What seemed to many to be common sense would have lessened the Plutocrats hold on America and restored democracy.

Secretary Clinton suggests that fixing America’s ills might be too much to ask and that a more achievable goal might be to make America’s ills better rather than fixing them. Rather than cure the disease she might propose to mitigate the symptoms. Rather than normalizing income inequality she’d settle for income inequality that was less bad. Rather than bringing American healthcare costs and quality up to the standards of the rest of the developed world, she’d make the Affordable Care Act less bad. Rather than eliminating the obscene levels of student loan debt, she’d make the debt less bad. Hillary Clinton it seems embodies the very strategy that plutocrats formulated to offset their greed over reach. If Americans would settle for less bad, costs would be minimal and the plutocracy would survive.

Therefore, the incrementalism secretary Clinton is offering may be her donor’s most cost effective option to perpetuate their American plutocracy. The choice is simple. Will voters settle for crumbs and not the cake? Will voters choose democracy over plutocracy? .

Marlin…excellent article! Thank you for the concise and clear information. A real eye opener when seen at once! Time for major change/reform/revolution, not just a pat on the head and incremental nudges to keep us wolves at bay. And certainly the narcissistic maniac holds no solution either. Bernie MUST win the election if we are to survive…

Here we are, one day post-California primary. All is not lost because time, decency and virtue are on our side. Michael (Independent Thinker), I agree with you 100%. I’m old enough (68) to have worked on Bobby Kennedy’s campaign when I was at Drew University. He was a statesman, not a politician. Bernie is a statesman in that same vein. In a fair and sane world, he would easily triumph as our next president. It is too bad there is greed, lust for power (or for abusive sex from gullible young women – Bill Clinton) and organized murder for profit (American warfare in the Middle East). But the reality is, we are a relatively new biological species and, in spite of our exceptional capacities, we are complex and still unproven as potential survivors over time. From the day democracy was conceived, it has been under attack by fascism, totalitarianism and the oligarchy. It is simply in the nature of humans, especially based on experience – what we grow up with as our potential models. So much of it is toxic beginning in the formative years of life. Some are strong enough of purpose to not succumb to evil, some are not. Rather than hating or raging against “the machine”, and those pulling the levers currently, which is tempting at times I admit, why not take the higher road and go after the hearts and minds of the upcoming generations (their children and our children). Let’s offer them a new paradigm. It is they who must reinvent government and overcome a host of ills in the global society. If that does not take place, all informed and reasonable people can easily see the future of homo sapiens is quite bleak. Together, and with leaders like Sanders, we can brush the Clintons, Trumps, et al aside. Their vices make them weak. Our willingness to share and be inclusive is an immense source of strength. If anyone reading this missive in reply to Michael Sparks wants to join in a group where hope, vision, agape (humanitarian progressivism) is its central goal, please email me to open a dialogue at: mantaray66@comcast.net Thanks and kind regards – Bob Burns the struggle continues

Thanks Michel, You put all my messy thought into a powerful statement. Put me on the list for the August change party affiliation to Green. At 79 I don’t have time to wait 8 years to get rid of Wall Street candidates.
One of the worst Obama/Clinton action you didn’t mention was the backing of the coup in Honduras that led to the death of an important environmentalist and resulted in a failed state.

During the 1992 US Presidential campaign, Ross Perot suggested that the result of the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, would be a “Giant sucking sound” as manufacturing jobs exited the US. On December 8, 1993 President Bill Clinton signed legislation to implement NAFTA. As a result of NAFTA, corporations reduced labor costs and the US lost 4+ million high paying manufacturing jobs.

The TPP has been referred to as the largest corporate power grab in US history where international courts have jurisdiction over US law. During negotiations, then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton referred to the TPP as “The gold standard”. During the 2016 presidential campaign, however, Mrs. Clinton reversed her position on TPP as polling suggested a strong voter opposition.

As the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party, former Secretary Clinton oversaw the staffing of the Democratic Party platform committee. That committee adopted a number of progressive ideas, but chose not to oppose the largest corporate power grab in US history. Based on the NAFTA results, the TPP won’t help American workers and so why would she steer the Democratic party in that direction? Come on you know and so does Senator Warren..

Please, will you do an investigative piece on the July 11th lawsuit filed by Bob Fitrakis? It purports to delve into Edison Research and its collusion with 6 BIG media outlets to skew the Democratic primary. It seeks as its “relief” full disclosure and publication of the hard voter ballots for all 50 states, so an exhaustive mega-volunteer counting effort might yield the true winner of said Primary. It is a very big story, and I beg of you to cover it, and/or coax some of your media colleagues to co-labor around the topic of Election integrity and restoring protection to the American voters’ voting process.

“If there is anything else you would like to know, simply ask…” Were we separated at birth? (LMSW, life-long democrat, Bernie supporter, writer, classical guitarist, raised two children as a single father. ) Thanks for your article. I appreciated it very much.

Thanks for What Bernie Sanders Gave to America Today. You brought some light and perspective to Bernie supporting Hillary. I hope that you are right about her keeping her word and each of us watching her moves. Frankly, she is totally untrustworthy and while I shared your writing as I felt it would be encouraging to us who have been left by our own candidate to support someone who has been bought and sold off long ago.

I greatly endorse your commitment to keep the pressure on Hillary to keep the promise(s) she made to Bernie . One resource that can help in strategizing is Movement for a New Society. This is a group that has long, deep experience in nonviolent campaigning for progressive social change. George Lakey is one of their leading lights. You may already be well connected in that vein. If so, Hurray!

In Canada here we have suffered some of the precursors to the politics of hate and greed that you have been subjected to this year, in our federal election last year. Many progressives here settled for the somewhat jaded Liberals in their fear and disgust against the Conservatives. Those progressives swore to “keep Trudeau accountable to his promises”, but we haven’t seen much energy on that track since the weeks shortly after the election.

The power of making higher education free may be more in the liberation of your generation from the toil of getting money to educate your kids, thus making more energy available to you for following up on the gains made during Bernie’s campaign.

If educating the next generation of progressives was a successful strategy for deep radical progressive change, Europe would be far more socialist, in Bernie’s sense of the word, than it is now.

The ecosphere doesn’t have another generation of time left for the glacial rate of change that Europe has demonstrated.

Your (and my) generation must make the changes. My volunteer political energy, little as it is, is devoted to making the strategies of nonviolent campaigning known.

Your piece really, REALLY helped me process what happened yesterday and put it in a different light. Thank you for writing it. I shared it and this comment on my wall and on a Bernie FB group (and I’ve never posted on a Bernie group): I’ve been depressed since Bernie endorsed Hillary. Very depressed. I wasn’t expecting it. I don’t fully understand it, yet. But this article gives me peace and hope and makes my love for Bernie Sanders and the kind of man he is grow even deeper. He is my personal Jesus. He’s inspired me to reconsider my place in the world and how a TRUE public SERVANT can change the world. Thank you, Bernie Sanders.

I am 57 years old (I think…after 50 you lose track!!). I have never voted in my life. I recognized at 10 years old that govt was a scam and adults were crazy.

Every election year I would watch. Hell, even George Carlin came to my side!! This year, I registered, I voted, I mourned for all the children.

Your blog made me tear up the way Bernie’s speeches do. I am tired. I am tired of watching people’s lives being destroyed for profit. I am tired of people not caring. I am tired of working my ass off every day at my age, when I’ve worked my ass off my entire life and had it all taken because I chose to stand up against a corrupt govt.

I am done because I can see that the kids I have been fighting for have this. My generation was supposed to do it. We failed and it doesn’t matter.